Ice Hockey: Clan netminder JF is on form and set to deny Edinburgh

EDINBURGH CAPITALS will have to breach their in-form former netminder JF Perras if they are to earn some much-needed points away to Braehead Clan tomorrow.

The popular Canadian earned himself a contract with Coventry Blaze on the back of his heroics at Murrayfield, where he back-stopped Capitals to the end- of-season play-offs under Doug Christiansen three years ago.

Now back up north, the goaltender is again winning accolades, with Clan, Scotland's top Elite League club at present.

He was voted the league's Player of the Week this week for his fine form playing for a side which is sitting pretty in fifth position in the ten-strong table in their first year.

He had a night off the last time Edinburgh visited the 4,000-capacity Renfrew rink, with his understudy, Michael Will, enjoying his first senior shut-out as Braehead won 15-0.

Capitals make their last visit to the west of Scotland this term tomorrow (face-off 7pm) and they have yet to win against Clan in the league having also lost 5-1. It is a slightly better story at Murrayfield, where Capitals had a team lost 6-4 at home to Braehead before stunning the Renfrew side with a shock 8-3 victory. The last match-up in Edinburgh saw Braehead skate to an 8-0 road win. Sadly, Edinburgh had a quality squad at the start of the season who were, on their night, able to beat the best in the league.

The club's chances of making the play-offs this time round disappeared after a mass walkout of star players. The current crop battle on bravely despite a sorry run of 23 straight defeats and one has to commend their spirit having only tasted six wins in 47 games during a nightmare season.

They have now shipped a staggering 342 goals and scored 125. Clan, by contrast, have qualified for the play-offs at the first time of asking and are fifth having just beaten league champions Coventry at The SkyDome last Sunday.

Capitals capitulated 12-3 at Dundee CCS Stars on Sunday leaving them marooned at the bottom of the pack with only 15 points, 11 behind ninth-placed Newcastle Vipers and 16 adrift of Stars, who occupy the eighth and final play-off position.

Clan have won their last four games and player/coach Bruce Richardson will not let up as he bids to finish as high in the table as he can at the end of the regular season. Richardson appreciates Capitals' plight but said: "My job is to make sure that this team (Braehead) finishes as high up the table as we possibly can in our first season.

"We're fifth right now and that is a fine achievement for this team which was brought together at the start of the season from nothing.

"This is a really professional group and it makes it easy for me to do my job.

"They come to play and that's what we will do tomorrow."

Before they face the Clan, Capitals make the trip to fourth-placed Nottingham Panthers tonight.